


Smell the sea (and feel the sky)

by Deeambles



Category: Naruto
Genre: Attempted Suicide, Gen, Hopeful Ending, Non-Massacre AU, but that'll get fixed, danzo is regrettably mentioned, ik im sad too, maybe next time, no mer folk despite the summary, not here tho cause this is only 1500 words but its implied ya feel, shisui is blind boisss, yeet tobiramas not dead
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-18
Updated: 2018-09-18
Packaged: 2019-07-13 19:01:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,506
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16024034
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Deeambles/pseuds/Deeambles
Summary: “Shhh” the merman whispers “it’s only another minute before shore and we can get you set there.”Shisui really wants to reply with something sensible like “who are you” or “why are you helping me” or even “hey somebody was trying to kill me, so I jumped into the Nakano after giving my last eye to my cousin so he can save our family and now you also might be a target”





	Smell the sea (and feel the sky)

**Author's Note:**

> wow hello i'm back with round two of things sitting in my notes that I no longer want to stare at. This is not the oldest story or the newest sitting in them, however it is complete so thats one thing its got over the rest. enjoy.

He leans into the wind falling backwards towards the rapids below. 

He can faintly hear Itachi’s cry of denial but before guilt can have him lounging for safety he drowns his thoughts out in the howling wind. 

Dying by drowning isn’t pleasant but neither is being betrayed by supposed comrades, so Shisui thinks he’ll live. Metaphorically of course. Literally living would require not falling into the unforgiving current of the Nakano river. Treacherous rocks and steep banks line its shores, reminding anyone who dares to come close it’s just as tough as the nation it runs through. 

Uchiha history says Fire country used to live up to its name. The ground was rougher, blacker, and would bite at the heels of anyone who tried to tame her. It says she calmed down with humanity leaving rough, yet nutritious soils behind which stabilized the country. Without the raging fires the plant life has taken advantage of the stability and grown to become the greenest country by far. 

 

The Nakano has never forgotten where it flows from. 

 

Impact is harsh and Shisui can feel it wrack his entire body from the back of his shoulders down to his toes. He can feel the way the air feels like it’s been knocked straight out of him and his body desperately tells him he needs to move. His brain tells him he needs to breathe. 

Shisui determinedly lets himself be taken with the current; he is an Uchiha and he will take full advantage of their stubborn lineage. 

 

It’s cold beyond anything else and loud with all the water in his ears. Loud in a quiet sort of way. Dark because he has no eyes, of course, but it could be worse, Shisui thinks grimly. He could have been killed by Root. By Danzo. Or god forbid that one flesh eating, bone melting poison he saw in the depths of T&I once. 

 

Yeah, he thinks, grinning despite hundreds of tons of water whipping him like a doll in a hurricane, it could be a lot worse. 

 

He feels the current change slightly and thinks they must be coming up on the bend and mentally prepares himself for the rocks he knows sit there. It’s not like he wasn’t prepared. If the fall and the rapids didn’t kill him the rocks will and damn if he’s letting Danzo pry anything from him. This is his choice, his last mission, to protect his name and honor and maybe he won’t see the result but Itachi is a good kid despite being a little emotionally stunted. 

 

It’ll be fine.  

 

And then it shifts. The current, previously content to whip him downstream, changes. Replacing the sharp lashes of before comes a smooth flow that wraps around his body and yanks him straight out of the normal flow of the River. 

The only thing Shisui can think is  _What._

It’s feels like an off-center hug wrapping around him. He can feel the sudden drop in temperature that’s screams underwater cave and then just like he wasn’t down there at all he can feel the current  _shove_  upwards.There’s water pushing against him but the current is stronger and his head breaks the surface and— 

_What_ _?_

It takes an embarrassingly long second for Shisui to remember he can breathe again. When he’s does, it burns like a katon gone wrong and his whole rib cage is shaking but he manages to say “What” out loud this time. 

A calming “shh” is his only answer and at least Shisui can safely stop asking what and now move on to who. 

Strong arms replace the currents that were previously  ~~drowning~~  saving him and his first thought is  _mermaid_? 

But the voice that shushed him was deep and the chest he’s now leaning on with no shame is relatively flat even if he can feel the contours of muscles he knows must be there. He can feel himself being lugged towards somewhere— shore, hopefully — and, 

 

“Shhh” the merman whispers “it’s only another minute before shore and we can get you set there.” 

 

Shisui really wants to reply with something sensible like “who are you” or “why are you helping me” or even “hey somebody was trying to kill me, so I jumped into the Nakano after giving my last eye to my cousin so he can save our family and now you also might be a target” but with the steady arms wrapped around his torso and the impact of hitting the river still shaking him he manages a rough grunt and thinks that’ll suffice for now. 

As if he can read his thoughts, the merman snorts softly, “I’m going to lift you up now, I’ve been trying to heal you as I swim but I’ll need dry land to check your lungs sufficiently”. 

_Huh_ , Shisui ponders,  _that’s why my lungs stopped screaming_. 

Before he can give a verbal response, he’s being lifted, bridle style, from the water and onto what he assumes land. It unfortunately rules out merman but it does mean he’s in the right reality. 

 

With the invention of time and space ninjutsus, one can never be too sure. 

 

The sand is soft under his hands as he’s placed down onto the ground. Shisui manages to focus on his breathing as he feels one strong hand guide him to lean against a rock and another staying firmly on his chest. That tingly feeling must be iryo-jutsu and Shisui gives himself a mental thumbs up for being able to feel anything at all. Itachi would be despairing right now he knows and— 

Itachi, who he left on top of the cliff, his family, the clan now in danger, and Danzo who has one of, if not the strongest manifestations of the sharingan ever recorded. And Shisui is sitting on a beach after a failed suicide attempt. 

 

In a panic, he grabs the man’s forearm that’s extended to his chest and feels a muscle tremor that signals surprise, opens his mouth to  _warn_  this man if nothing else and— 

Promptly chokes straight over his words into a coughing mess. 

The stranger lets out a dissatisfied grunt but keeps Shisui from face planting into the sand. 

After the fit resides the stranger helps him sit back up but before he can chastise him Shisui manages to spit out “Wait.” 

 

The silence is echoing and his throat is still screaming but he  _has_  to know. “My family” he starts, “—in danger and Danzo—“

 

A loud snort cuts him off and Shisui mind goes blank for the second time today. 

“Wha—“

“It’ll be fine” the voice interrupts “I heard what you said on top of the cliff, your cousin should be on his way here.”

 

Shisui takes a second to process that because whoever just saved him is taking efforts to prevent a massacre whether he knows it or not. But he also sounds like he knows more than what Shisui said to Itachi on the cliff. The voice sounded certain and while it’s deep and stern, it didn’t sound chastising. Whoever saved him believes him and that comes with a desperate, raw, relief and the surge of hope that fills his chest is almost overwhelming in its entity. 

 

The voice lets out a light shush again and it makes Shisui wonder how much emotion is playing on his face but before he can voice his one of many questions he hears rapid footfall and he jerks slightly in the sounds direction and— 

 

“Shisui!” 

 

Ah so the stranger didn’t lie cause that voice is most definitely— 

 

“Shisui you idiot!” 

Hands grab his shoulders, lightly of course, and Shisui can’t help but let out a rough laugh 

 

“Hey Itachi, long time no see.” 

Itachi lets out a pained sort of noise and Shisui thinks he could really learn a bit of humor now and then.  Two arms wrap around him and the soft “you idiot” isn’t soft enough to miss his ears so Shisui just wraps his arms back around his cousin and jokingly says “you wouldn’t happen to have that eye I lent you right?” 

 

Itachi makes an exasperated huff that sounds less pained than the last one so Shisui counts it as a win. 

 

The stranger, which Shisui will deny he forgot was there, makes an interested sound. 

 

“You should take him to the hospital and have that replanted as quickly as possible. I’ll retrieve the other and then meet you.” 

 

There’s a slight swoosh that marks the stranger’s departure. 

 

“Shisui?”

 

The hesitation in his little cousin’s voice is painful to hear and Shisui would jump back into the river to get rid of it. 

 

“It’s okay little cousin, I’m okay” 

 

It’s a little bit of an understatement. 

 

Itachi seems to agree from the careful way he hauls Shisui back onto his feet. “Come on, you need to go to the hospital, the Nidaime will take care of Danzo.”

Shisui stops dead from where he’s  ~~walking~~  shuffling, leaning heavily on Itachi, and thinks he’s entirely justified in saying 

“ _What._ ”


End file.
